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Hello TG, I enjoy sniping and have achieved 5700+ kills with bolt action snipers and am one gun away (LA80) from auraxium'ing (acheiving 1,160 kills with a weapon which grants you a medal + 200 certs) every bolt action sniper rifle. Below is a side-by-side comparison and review I have made plus how to use the infiltrator class and arsenal effectively. All stats were pulled from the planetside 2 players website.

Enjoy!

1. THE MIND OF A SNIPER
A true sniper avoids face-to-face confrontations whenever possible. This means choosing your targets carefully and knowing with full certainty that you can kill the target before he/she can react. A injured target is worse then a unaware target as an enemy that has been hit knows that he is being targeted and now knows what direction you are location. If you happen to injure a target and the target has escaped; move.

Below are rules all successful snipers must follow:

I. Cloak>Uncloak>Shoot>MOVE>repeat. I cannot stress this enough. This is the single most important thing a sniper must follow. Moving after pulling the trigger, even if a couple steps to the side, temporarily masks your location to the intended target and/or an enemy who saw the tracer fire.

II. Know you have a good chance of scoring the kill before you press the trigger; trigger discipline.
This is very, very, hard to do. I am an implusive shooter and if I see a target my I want to shoot ASAP.

III. If you are being sniped as a sniper and suffer an non-fatal wound, med-kit immediately, cloak and run, and wait for shields to charge.

V. Put sensor darts where you are going, not where you are. Putting a dart at your feet says "Newb Infil here" to any situational aware enemy.

Congratulations! you have passed sniper preschool, onto the sniper loadout.

2. THE LOADOUT OF A SNIPER.
This is my standard loadout for all bolt action guns I use. Personal preference but I believe it overall the most effective loadout.

I. Sniper of choice

II. Side arm of choice w/ laser sight (Underboss is my personal favorite as there is nothing more cooler than a revolver to an enemies head)

Cloak: Max hunter, you want to stay invisible for as long as possible.

Suit Slot: Ammo or Advance Shield Capacitor (ASC), I will go over each.

Ammo increase: This gives you up to 4 more clips of ammunition for the rifle and sidearm. Pretty straight forward. Bring if you have a good spot and will be isolated from friendlies.

ASC: Great for recovering quickly from enemy fire as it decreases the amount of time your shields are deactivated. Bring if you expect counter snipers.

Grenade: EMP, allows you to remove an enemies shield within a certain radius and leaves them vulnerable to a easy 1HKO in anypart of the body with the sniper rifle.

Utility: Max medkits; allows you instantly recover all health up to 4 times, a must in order to increase survivablity.

Motion dart VS. Motion spotter: I prefer motion darts as it is better for team play as it allows you, with an engineer, to quickly surround the area with mass darts. For solo play darts are still better in that they allow you scout an area you are headed to.

3. THE ARSENAL OF A SNIPER

O' goodie! 5 bolt action snipers to choose from! Which one is best for me? HALP! Look below.
Note: I could not find information from the website on the true rate of fire and chamber time of each sniper rifle. However, from personal experience I can tell which snipers shoot the fastest.
Each sniper preforms best at a certain range, from closest range to longest, the order goes: SAS-R>NC14 BOLT DRIVER>LA80 (The Lady)>EM4 Longshot > AF-8 RailJack. I will review each sniper in this order.

Review: This gun comes with a simple equation: headshot = life for you/death for enemy; anything else = death for you/life for enemy.

The SAS-R is currently my favorite gun in the game. It has access to all scopes ranging from 1x-6x zoom; which makes it an extreme dangerous close quarter option. This gun also has one of the highest learning curves as it is incredibly hard to use yet immensely satisfying when used right. It has NO scope sway if used with scopes from 1x-4x zoom so holding shift before each shot in order to steady the gun is not needed. This allows for COD-ish quick scoping enemies at close ranges and allows. However, with it being optimized for close range, it has the slowest muzzle velocity of the NC snipers. If the Suppressor is attached you will quickly notice a huge increase in bullet drop; which again, will restrict this strictly to 10-50 meter ranges. Finally, it has the quickest reload of the 5 available rifles. 5/5

A "meh" starting weapon available to every NC player. It is the weakest of the mid-long range snipers, its quick reload and high rate of fire (ROF) is its only positive feature; however, it is outclassed by the LA80, Longshot, and Railjack, thus making it a starter weapon. 2/5

I direct upgrade from the Bolt Driver with the only difference being a increase in muzzle velocity from 550 to 600 and a .1 second increase in reload speed. Other than that they are completely identical rifles. A money grab from SOE if you ask me. Regardless, it is still a fine sniper for those mid range engagements and should be considered if you really like the Bolt Driver. 3/5

Review:
This is the preferred sniper for the majority of snipers including an incredibly talented sniper in TG, RAGE3. It has a long reload speed yet it does the 400 damage at 400 meters as opposed to 350 damage at 400 meters with the Bolt Driver and LA80. In addition, it has a great muzzle velocity of 650m/s which is again, better than the BD and LA80.
With this increased damage at longer range there is a slower RoF as the chamber time is longer (the time in between shots). I hope to confirm this later when I find accurate weapon stats (currently bugged in-game and on website). Overall, highly recommend if you want something harder hitting at the expense of RoF. 5/5

This gun is unlike any sniper rifle in the game. It possess the highest damage and muzzle velocity of any infantry gun in the game. However, with this insane damage it comes with a .2 second delay. This means that after you press the trigger, there is a .2 second delay before the bullet actually come out of the chamber.

What does this mean? Well, this allows you to adjust your shot for 1/5 of a second before the bullet is fired. This may seem inconsequential, but it is a very long time compared to the almost instantaneous fire time with the other snipers. It is very hard to get used if you have spent a lot of time with the normal snipers; however, once you get the hang of it, you can pull off incredibly accurate shots at extremely long ranges.

This gun is great for moving targets and enemies aware of your position returning fire as it allows you to adjust to there A-D movement before the bullet is delivered to their head.
Another thing to note is that it has a small clip size of 4. This, along side the delay, puts you at a disadvantage if you are in a "sniper duel".

Overall: 5/5

I would encourage you to test in VR before purchasing as it is very different and very unique.

EVERYTHING SCOPES:

One of the biggest questions to new snipers is what scope to use. Well, this depends on what range you are most comfortable with. I prefer 10x scope on all snipers except the close range SAS-R. With the 10X scope I almost never have to go below the 2nd dot on Y-axis of the scope unless the sniper is equipped.
The only scope I do not recommend is the 12x one, I believe the FoV is too small for the range that can deliver a 1 hit kill headshot.
However, my biggest piece of advice would be to chose one scope early on and stick with it. Switching scopes will really mess up your aim if you have started getting consistent headshots on one scope.

THE SUPPRESSOR:

In short, I hate the suppressor. It drastically increases bullet drop. At the range I play at I cannot kill an enemy with a headshot which is very frustrating.
The only gun I would consider putting a suppressor on is the SAS-R as you will deliver a 1HKO regardless if it is equipped unless it is a heavy with overshield.
However, Mustarde, one of the best snipers in the world with 60,000+ kills with bolt action rifles uses a suppressor sometimes. He plays at a much closer range though.

FORWARD GRIP:

What? Why? Why put a grip that "reduces horizontal recoil over extended fire" on a bolt action sniper that requires you to un-zoom to reload? I still am confused as to why it was ever
implemented.

FLASHLIGHT:

No, unless you want to draw all enemies in the area to you.

TL;DR:

Highly recommend the SAS-R, EM4 Longshot, and AF-8 Railjack because of X, Y, and Z.

Also, if you have any questions regarding sniping or want to snipe along with me. Leave a comment below or PM me anytime in game.

Yes, but now anyone with certs can buy sensor darts for there crossbow. That further hampers infil squad play and reduces it to long range support or close range SMG'er; the latter can easily be replaced in terms of manpower by a competent heavy.

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Side note: I eagerly await the straight pull attachment. It has been in "development" for forever as it was scheduled for early March :(.

I see this completely changing the some snipers play as it allows you to quickly follow up shots. However, remaining almost stationary while using it will most likely punish players who do not know how to properly move in-between shots.

“Big Brother is Watching You.”
― George Orwell, "1984"

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Yes, but now anyone with certs can buy sensor darts for there crossbow. That further hampers infil squad play and reduces it to long range support or close range SMG'er; the latter can easily be replaced in terms of manpower by a competent heavy.

Gonna have to stop that right there: The recon bolts for the crossbow are NOTHING compared to sensor darts or the motion spotter. They have a 10m radius and last for approximately ten seconds. Covering even a single building becomes a FULL TIME JOB for an engineer with his own ammo pack. I routinely cover an entire biolab, out to the tips of both landing pads, with my 50m radius sensor darts. This takes ten or fifteen seconds if I'm standing by the SCU. I now have 30-35 seconds to do anything else I want, including actually helping the squad by shooting bad guys, the feeling of which our sad, sad recon bolt engineer is slowly starting to forget.

Friends don't let friends use recon bolts.

A pilot who doesn't have any fear probably isn't flying his plane to its maximum. -Jon McBride, astronaut

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Gonna have to stop that right there: The recon bolts for the crossbow are NOTHING compared to sensor darts or the motion spotter. They have a 10m radius and last for approximately ten seconds. Covering even a single building becomes a FULL TIME JOB for an engineer with his own ammo pack. I routinely cover an entire biolab, out to the tips of both landing pads, with my 50m radius sensor darts. This takes ten or fifteen seconds if I'm standing by the SCU. I now have 30-35 seconds to do anything else I want, including actually helping the squad by shooting bad guys, the feeling of which our sad, sad recon bolt engineer is slowly starting to forget.

Friends don't let friends use recon bolts.

Well then I am completely wrong :P, I did not realize they had such a quick expiring time.

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Penny excellent review and synopsis of a sniper/infil. Penny earned my respect a long time ago, while sitting together on a hilltop plincking enemy in a base.

I know people don't like snipers, even guys in your own squad don't like them and I'm not sure why. Except that they would rather be shot standing toe to toe with another heavy than being melon blasted by some invisible dude way way out on a hill side somewhere. In my mind dead is dead, the only difference is that if I'm shot by that guy, I can kill him without running up the hill. every class has it's 'needed' innate ability, the medic needs to be able to rez and cure as many as he/she can which requires more than a medi gun. It requires the ability to see those squad members that need healing and those that have fallen that need rez'n. The heavy needs to be able to instantly hit his shield and aim his gun for the other guys head in order to get out of a fire fight as quickly as possible then reload quickly for the next encounter. The list goes on, the sniper needs to be very accurate, I myself operate at extreme distances where a micrometer adjustment on my end equals several meters of deviation on their end.

The nice thing about most long range sniper guns is that they do a large amount of damage with even body shots. So what does that mean? It means that if you (or the enemy) gets hit by a sniper then you better run for cover because the next shot will kill you. Think about what that mean logistically, it means that if you have several snipers out of harms way shooting at an enemy base that they can clear any open area of enemy fairly quickly This allows your squad the ability to advance moving from cover to cover to tighten the noose around the enemy stronghold. I've seen this happen many times and it happens with great efficiency. So now that the majority of enemy is confined in that ever smaller and smaller area what do you do now. As a sniper you keep the area clear and shoot the enemy that are trying to flank your squad. As a Heavy or Engy you toss nades at the concentrated enemy killing a bunch of them in a hurry while holding down the points. Remember you have freedom of movement whereas the enemy does not due to the sniper-net.

Another thing to note is that as you (the sniper) are sitting on that hilltop, while unscoped, Q-spot as many enemy as you can as they will show up for the guys closer to the battle. You can Q-spot quite a few of them while on the hill too. Not only are you doing your squad a favor, but secondary to that, you get a spotting bonus when your squad kills them as well. Obviously you don't want to Q-spot if you think there is enemy within 'ear shot' distance from you as it gives away your position.

Mustarde is good and there is no doubt it, but I've melon blasted him on many occasions and he has me as well.......but there are many good snipers VS and TR. The one common trait about very good snipers in all factions is that they have and show respect for other very good snipers. As such I have quite a few on my friends list. But I think that they aren't so much 'friendly' as much as they want to know when to start watching their backs...hehehehe.

As a side note: I shot Wrel so many times on the Waterson server I felt I had to apologize to him.......and did. Now when he's in my sights instead of shooting him I send him a text saying 'bang your dead'. Also I've started using the 'Railjack' on the Waterson server (about 200 kills from an Auraxium) after getting the Auraxium with my trusted EM4 ol' Black Betty, personally I found the bullet drop at extreme distances is greater than the EM4 which makes no sense with a higher muzzle velocity than the EM4 and has to be adjusted accordingly.

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Another thing to note is that as you (the sniper) are sitting on that hilltop, while unscoped, Q-spot as many enemy as you can as they will show up for the guys closer to the battle. You can Q-spot quite a few of them while on the hill too. Not only are you doing your squad a favor, but secondary to that, you get a spotting bonus when your squad kills them as well. Obviously you don't want to Q-spot if you think there is enemy within 'ear shot' distance from you as it gives away your position.

Yeah, thanks for bringing that up. All the time I see snipers relentlessly spotting targets even within 10-20~ish meters, its a good way to bring attention to yourself if that's what you're after.

“Big Brother is Watching You.”
― George Orwell, "1984"

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^^^I realize this is old but for someone that used to play almost exclusively as a sniper (if you'll look up my stats most of that time has been spent on my vanu char), You forgot something kinda crucial... LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION! A sniper is sorta like a fisher, everyone has their favorite fishing spots, every sniper should have his favorite sniping spots. If your not in the right location your gonna have a bad day...

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Having a nice spot is great and all, but if you hang out there too long someone irked at getting shot in the face is going to find you and hook a stick of C4 to your belt. After taking a few shots, relocate. If the enemy is paying attention or counter sniping, try to relocate after EVERY shot. Don't give them a predictable target, and DEFINITELY don't just let them hover over a spot to wait for you to reappear.